Finding out
by Mynona
Summary: Duo accidentally summons Heero after a painful break up with his boyfriend. However things are never what then seem to be and Duo now has to fight things he never expected exsisted. AU. Slash. Fixed chapters...
1. 1

Duo walked, wet coat and long braid swinging with his angry steps, into his apartment really pissed off. His purple eyes flickered with emotions as his eyes settled on the well-known furniture in his apartment. Home at last, a bit of safety something to hold on to when the whole world came crashing down his ears. He hadn't been here for many months, opting instead to live with his boyfriend, ex-boyfriend he reminded himself, but he hadn't given up on his apartment just because it was his, his first home that felt like home in a long, long time. His boyfriend had often complained about the extra bills when they only used one apartment anyways but Duo had been hesitant to let his home go. In hindsight it had been a good thing since he now had somewhere to go.

Earlier that night he'd found his boyfriend since one and a half years in bed with another… a girl. He'd known that Solo had been a little distracted the last few months but he didn't think that his boyfriend, who by the way had assured Duo that he was at least a hundred percent gay, had a girlfriend. A girlfriend, and by the look and sound of it, it hadn't been the first time they were together. Hadn't he been good enough? Had he done something wrong? What could he have done to avoid what happened? Maybe it would have hurt as much if he'd found Solo with another guy but Duo really didn't feel up to speculating. The only good thing was that he'd kept his apartment. Duo silently swore that he'd never be with anyone ever again, and unlike most young people who does this vow when they've gotten their heart broken, Duo intended to keep to his promise.

Solo was the only guy, and only person for that matter, Duo had ever dated. Sure he was popular at work and in the clubs but he had few real friends and Solo was the only person he had allowed to become close after he'd lost father Maxwell and sister Helen. He'd told Solo everything and then some, all his joys and fears, his dreams and hopes. Solo had done the same, or at least that's what it had seemed like at the time. They had optimistically planned ahead, much in the same way all young couples does. Now the plans had been unmade and the smoking ruins of his life seemed to laugh right back at him when he thought of them. He'd gone trough so much together with Solo, why had Solo done this to him?

His time with Solo had almost been fairytale-like, after Solo had convinced Duo that he was gay and that it was ok it hadn't taken long for the older boy to take him as a boyfriend. It could have been the usual older-boy-takes-advantage-of-his-younger-boyfriend but it had never been like that. Not even now could Duo accuse Solo for that. No when they'd gotten together the sun seemed to shine brighter, the birds sang and the blossoms bloomed. Solo had been the perfect gentleman about everything, taking it slow for Duo's sake, helped him in bad times as well as in the good times, but it was obvious now that it had meant a great bit more to Duo than it had to Solo. Duo just wondered for how long Solo had felt bad about their relationship. Had there really been one? Not just some elaborate trick to get one of the most popular guys? Could a man really do that to another? And why hadn't he spotted something sooner?

The weather outside seemed to match his mood; the rain poured down so hard you could have swum the streets rather than walk them. Yet there was now howling wind, no thunder or other manifest of natures rage, only the hard sad rain. Duo almost smiled when he thought of the fitting weather but it was only a brief interlude in his, all too, focused mind. He gathered a blanket from where it was slung over the back of a chair; he curled up on the windowsill staring without seeing at the rain. His thoughts soon returned to Solo and their time together.

His slight form could only be seen as a shadow from the outside, the light in the background only serving to make his shape darker. His forehead pressed hard against the cool, unforgiving pane of glass. No one saw the hunched over, depressed shape as he silently cried over what he'd lost.

Three friends sat in what could have been rather a depressing room, seeing it was dark and had no windows but there was a giant hearth with a bright fire. The firelight, and the candles that were placed around the room, illuminated the thick colourful carpets, cushions and the lively paintings on the walls. Couches, chairs and tables in different sizes stood scattered around the room, creating a crowded but on the same time private feeling. Everything was done in homey, dark reds, greens and yellows. The woodwork was made from a dark polished wood that spoke of age and wear but also about care. The room was large but the furniture worked to make it several gathering places instead of feeling grand and pressing.

ooooo

With a slight frown, that was the equalent of a startled yelp in anyone else, Heero rose off the couch where he had been sitting going trough a bunch of blueprints occasionally making a mark on either the prints or in the pad he had balancing on his thigh. His brown hair, stylishly messy as always, gave of the impression of standing on end why on the same time not doing so, because there was some things that Heero didn't do, or in this particular case, Heero's hair didn't do. Quatre, who had been reading from an old dusty book, which was nearly, but not quite, big enough to rightfully be called a tome, looked at his companion questioning the odd behaviour with a glance. Heero looked around thoughtfully as if he was searching for something he couldn't find.

"Heero are you okay?" Quatre asked him, this time out loud. Heero shook his head lightly.

"I have to go Quatre, I'll be back but I felt something that I have to check it out. Please remind Wufei about the meeting tomorrow night."

"Where is he by the way?" Quatre, the ever curios, asked.

"Don't say the letter he got earlier didn't give you a clue?"

"Trowa said something about it but we all get mail from time to time, even you Heero."

"Hn, Quatre, it wasn't as much the letter as the rose imprint in the red wax that held it closed that was the clue."

"Oh." Quatre said nothing more returning instead to his book, one hand straying down to pet the tiger, which lay by his chair, on it's head. Heero silently left the room and hurried trough the corridors of the house. Whenever you were in a hurry they seemed to have grown at least twice as long as normal and you always encountered at least one person who wanted to speak to you. Heero thought it was his own personal version of Murphy's law.

The tiger slowly closed its green eyes, relaxing into the small blond's hands. The scene had an air of familiarity to it, it was something that happened so often that the participants didn't have to concentrate on what they were doing but it didn't mean that it was just automatic. No there was a lot of thought and feeling behind it, much more than usual for a man and an animal, or a man and his friend for that matter.

ooooo

Wufei hated his superior, Treize Khushrenada. Treize did have the right to call on any of his subordinates at any time he wanted and they had to come but lately it had seemed to Wufei that Treize had called on him unreasonably often. Most of the times he didn't even have anything important to say or order but however much Wufei wanted to he couldn't not show up, he just hoped that Treize wanted something important.

Arriving to the gates to a mind numbingly large estate, or maybe it was a castle, Wufei didn't really care, he was invited in and showed to Treize's office. The whole castle was expensively but tastefully decorated, both inside and out. The gardens were full of red roses, Treize's favourite flower, and the gardeners put down lots of effort to keep the bushes blooming. The same flowers could be found displayed inside in various shapes and made from different materials. Wufei kneeled and prostrated himself in front of Treize as expected by him. As he stood there kneeling on the bare floor, he gathered his thoughts and strengthened his cool façade, a façade Treize somehow always broke trough anyway.

"You may rise." Wufei did as bid and noticed to his suppressed delight that Une, Treize's constant companion, was nowhere to be seen. Not that Wufei turned around to look for her, he didn't even move his eyes but that didn't matter. What mattered was the Une's absence. Some luck in an otherwise luckless night. Treize was, as always, dressed as impeccable and with as much carefully studied flair, his house was decorated in. Treize held a lot of power and he enjoyed to display it but he didn't brag. He never bragged, no, this quiet display of wealth was more his style.

"It's nice to see you little dragon." Wufei didn't answer, he just stood straight-backed and stared into the space in front of him, but he was careful not to look Treize in the eye. Said man rose and came around to the other side of his desk, leaning casually against it while he studied Wufei's still form. "You're mad at me, aren't you little dragon?"

"I'm not mad at you, my lord."

"Wufei!" There was an obvious warning in the older man's voice.

"'Slightly annoyed with' would be a more accurate term, my lord."

"Is that so, dragon?" Treize looked doubtful but he wasn't going to push it. "And why is that? Don't you want to serve me?" He raised one of his forked eyebrows as a challenge.

"I enjoy serving you, my lord. You are more lenient than many others but sometimes I can't help but feel as if your summons comes at inappropriate moments." It was true, mostly. Wufei didn't appreciate to serve under anyone but he knew he had to, and as he said, Treize was one of the most lenient lords around. He was also one of the strongest, second only to the King.

"Very well then, come with me." He walked away confident that Wufei would follow, and Wufei did, at the required three paces behind and a little to the right. Treize quickly led the way trough the maze that was his home and he didn't stop until they came to a big room fit for practicing all kinds of armed and unarmed combat.

"Swords, wouldn't you say dragon?"

"Whatever my lord wishes." Despite the dispassionate answer, he brought his sword out but he didn't unsheathe it before Treize held his own naked blade in his hand. The fight was short but vicious and it ended the same way every other fight between Treize and Wufei did, Treize won. He held his sword to Wufei's neck while the latter stood absolutely still, not even glancing at his own sword that lay on the ground by his feet. What differed this time from all the others was the little nick in Wufei's neck where Treize's sword had rested. Usually Treize was too proud over his skill to let any harm come to Wufei while at the same time defeating him as fast and as completely as possible. Slowly Treize withdrew his sword. Equally slow he took a step forward, leaned in to Wufei's neck, and licked at the drop of blood that had formed there.

"Exquisite little dragon." As he drew back Wufei lowered his eyes. He didn't know what to make of this new side to their little game.

ooooo

Duo slowly stretched his legs trying to work the kinks that came from being crammed up in too small a space for a long time from his legs and back. Slowly preparing for bed Duo tried no to think at all, it was still early but the day had been draining, more so than any other day Duo could remember, worse even than the fire in the orphanage. Yes, he was and orphan, maybe that's why it was so hard to lose the only person he'd ever seen as family.

In his pj's just about to sneak under the covers of his bed he heard a knock on the door. He opened the door but there was no one on the other side. He decided that it must have been a stupid joke by the neighbour's son, who probably stood somewhere, where he couldn't be seen but saw himself, laughing his head off. Just as Duo closed the door he heard something from behind and whirled around. There, in the middle of his poorly illuminated room stood a silent figure. It was male, whoever it was, about the same height as Duo but he held himself in such self-confidence that he appeared to be at least half a foot taller. After Duo'd nervously hit the light switch he could see the mans brown hair and deep blue eyes.

"Holy crap." Duo squeaked. "How in the heck did you get in here mr… whoever you are!" He didn't raise his voice but it had a certain edge to it. He slowly reached out for the phone.

"I'm sorry I startled you master." The man clad all in black said, with a small but polite bow but the 'master' and the bow had a mothbally feeling to it. As if it was a ling time since the stranger had had to obey anyone or anything except for his own wishes. He didn't appear unwilling per se, he just needed a bit of polishing before going back to a role often rehearsed. Duo's extracted hand came to a halt and he stood frozen just looking at the stranger in his living room.

"Startled! You almost scared me shitless." Duo confessed. "Who are you and what are you doing in my apartment?"

"My apologies again." The man said. Something about the man made Duo believe that he, indeed, was sorry, and that he didn't appear to be a threat, for now at least. "You called me master, so I came."

"Wait a minute I didn't call you." Duo said, and he added, when his mind had processed the input correctly. "And I'm not anyone's master, much less yours." The stranger walked closer to Duo.

"You can deny it but I know what I feel, I felt the pull of a calling so I came. About not being master, well time will tell." Duo held his breath when the man walked up close to him. This day had gone from promising to sad, to weary, to scary and was just moving on to scary as hell.

"Whatever, but can you please tell me who you are?"

"Of course master, I'm Heero." The man, newly named Heero supplied. Duo winced at the honorific. He wasn't anyone's master, right? He didn't want to be a master and if he was, why hadn't anyone deemed it fit to tell him? Duo was about to speak when Heero put his hand up halting whatever Duo was planning to say.

"I know many things about you master, you called me, I felt you, understood you and I had to answer. At this point, you might choose no to believe but there will come a time when you have to stand up and face who and what you are. Just be ready." Duo eyes were wide with confusion, shock and doubt. This day had been too much; he could feel his life give away under his feet as a quagmire might, and a stranger invaded his home, the only thing he thought of as safe. Heero seemed to catch on to what he was feeling like, raised his hand, and stroked Duo's cheek. "Just remember, you are not alone. I'll be here when you need me." With those words he climbed onto the windowsill and out the window.

Duo did a double-take when he realized what Heero was doing so he rushed to the window where he found Heero sitting on the rail to the fire escape.

"Okay this isn't funny, please get back in before you hurt yourself." Duo pleaded with him. Heero didn't move. "Please get in." Duo said to him again holding out his hand. Heero looked at him then lightly grabbed Duo's hand and came back into the room. Duo held his breath when Heero closed the space between them. Heero lightly put his hand on Duo's chin and brought their faces closer. Duo pulled back for he didn't even know Heero. Heero looked at him with a blank face then walked back to the window.

"Goodbye master. 'Till you call me again." And with that Heero jumped out the window and was gone. Duo stood there thinking of all the things that would happen to a man that jumped from a tenth-storey window. Surprisingly enough there was no large red splat on the wet, glistening asphalt below. There was actually no sign what so ever of his mysterious visitor. He stood there staring out the window for quite some time before resuming what he'd been doing before the doorbell had sounded. As he put the light out he decided that he'd call in sick tomorrow. He didn't feel up to asking questions and he had some of his own to find answers to.

-----

AN: (yes I hate them too, that's why I choose to put them here, where you can choose to read or not to read them)

My English is a bit lacking I'm afraid, it is after all only my second language. My apologies to all you out there that now see me as a butcher of all things written. I'm in want of a beta, both for this and for future stories.

This is my first ever fanfic but I've written some other stuff (check out my bio for info)

I love reviews. I will continue to write even if I don't get any but I'd like some.


	2. 2

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Gundam Wing or any of the characters that appear there. I've only borrowed them for a while. I will, however, not look nicely at anyone who tries to steal my storyline.

This disclaimer applies the chapter before this and any that might follow.

-----

Heero walked up the black doors that were opened by a silent servant when he knocked. The servant was one of the Manguanac, they were really Quatre's servants but they served all four inhabitants of the house.

"Master Quatre is waiting for you in the usual room." The servant, Abdul Heero's mind supplied, said.

"Hn"

Back in the room he'd left about two hours earlier he found that noting had changed, except that Quatre and the large tiger was now lounging in one of the many sofas.

"What did you find Heero?" Quatre asked his long time friend.

"A master who doesn't know who or what he is." Heero said but didn't offer an explanation. When Quatre understood this he left the room heading for his own chambers.

Quatre irritably paced the carpeted floor of his bedroom. There was more to Heero's sudden excursion than he told and Quatre wanted to know exactly what he'd found, not the avoiding mumbo-jumbo Heero had supplied. For someone that expressionless Heero was surprisingly see-trough at times. The door opened without warning and another man walked into the room. Quatre didn't seem to mind the lack of knocking and just continued to wear a hole in his carpet.

"You know Quatre, pacing the floor like that isn't going to help." The green-eyed man said with the traces of a smile at his lips.

"Not pacing isn't going to help either." The blond said and continued, not noticing that what had before been a beginning of a smile had now blossomed into one. Suddenly he ceased pacing, stared at the wall for a moment or to before slowly sliding to the floor while grabbing his chest.

"Quatre are you okay?" The man named Trowa asked. He'd seen his friend sink to the floor before but he couldn't stop worrying about 'his' companion. Just because it had happened before and Quatre had made it trough without a scratch didn't mean that he'd make it this time too.

"Something's wrong Trowa, I can feel it but I don't know what. I think it has something to do with Heero's sudden disappearance earlier." Trowa carefully eased Quatre into the large bed and lay down beside him holding him close.

"Just let Heero be Heero. We'll get our explanation sooner or later." Quatre sighed and Trowa tightened his arms.

"That's what I'm afraid of. We'll get it later and it will be too late, again I might add, and Heero will already have done something impossible and utterly stupid." Trowa gave his companion a light squeeze before pulling back to look into his eyes.

"You worry far too much Quatre."

"Well I don't see you doing it so I have to take on your share of worrying as well as my own." Quatre answered back smiling, his breath got stuck in his throat as Trowa lowered his head. When Trowa brushed his lips lightly against Quatre's, the blond pushed harder against Trowa demanding more. He felt Trowa's tongue tracing his lips asking entrance and he opened them without a second thought. Trowa slowly pulled away when they both needed to come back for air, and Quatre opened his eyes.

"That was great." Trowa smiled again before returning his lips to Quatre's. Quatre brought his hands up, placed them first on Trowa's shoulders to slowly slide around to grab a hold of the taller man's neck.

A sudden jolt of something raced trough Trowa and faintly surprised but oddly not alarmed he pulled back. Quatre seemed to know what had happened and started to apologize profoundly while trying to disentangle himself from both Trowa and sheets but only succeeding in making matters worse.

"I'm so sorry Trowa, I didn't mean to. No, I did mean to but it wasn't supposed to happen. You'll hate me now. I'd better be going. I'm sorry." Trowa tried to break trough Quatre's inane blabbering to tell him that everything was all right, no harm done, but he didn't seem to be able to get trough to Quatre. Trowa resorted to the one thing he knew would shut the smaller man up, and kissed him again. It worked as planned and Trowa was the first one to recover.

"Now will you listen to me? I'd like to know what happened, but before you say anything I'd like to add that I liked it, whatever it was." Trowa said. Quatre stared at his companion before blushing brightly red.

"You know, um, that my kind also marks their mates?" If possible, he went even redder.

"Yes, I knew that."

"Um, well you see, um…" His voice slowly faded out to nothing.

"Are you trying to tell me that your magic accepted me as your mate and that it initiated the marking?" Trowa decided to help Quatre out.

"I understand if you don't want to see me again." Quatre shrunk away and once again tried to get off the bed.

"No you don't." Trowa said and tightened his arms around his squirming companion. "I'm happy to be your mate and I'm also happy that your magic has accepted me. I love you Quatre and I'll be proud to wear your mark."

"You are? You would?" Gratefulness shone in the little blond's eyes. "I love you too Trowa."

Quatre sighed and buried his face in Trowa's neck.

"Do you feel better now?"

"Hmm?" Quatre asked before nodding and squirming himself closer to Trowa. The tall man lightly kissed the top of the blond head before settling down, content on holding Quatre close.

"I'm sorry Quatre but I need to leave now if I'm to get any sleep at all."

"Of course Trowa. Why didn't you leave earlier? I didn't mean to keep you here, you didn't have to stay."

"I couldn't have left you like that Quatre. Good morning," He leaned down and pecked Quatre on the tip of his nose. "see you tonight."

Quatre stirred awake when he felt a strange weight on the bed shift. With his eyes only opened as this slits he felt around more than looked around and encountered a soft but warm something beside him in bed. Shock made him sit up and look at the object even though it did take some time before he could actually see it. There, beside him on the bed, was a sheepish looking Trowa, as sheepish looking he can look at any rate…, which really isn't a lot. 

"Trowa? What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep so I thought that maybe I could come in here. Even if I couldn't sleep I could watch you."

"You shouldn't be up during day, Trowa." Quatre smiled despite his words and moved to one end of the bed while holding the sheets open invitingly. "Come here." Trowa moved next to Quatre who pulled the sheets back up. Both men reached out for the other and smiled when they felt their companions do the same things as they did themselves. They fell asleep quickly, holding each other close much to the delight of the Manguanacs who peered in on them from behind the almost-closed door.

ooooo

Duo woke up in the morning blissfully unaware of yesterday's happenings before his brain caught up with his awoken state. He dismissed everything from the doorbell and on as a dream on the ground that it had been to weird to have occurred in the real world. When he exited his bedroom to get his shower, he noticed that it was slightly chilly in the apartment due to the open window in the living room. He looked around carefully but nothing was missing or standing out of place. Maybe he'd opened it during night because he'd been too warm. Yeah, that must be it.

A quick glance at the clock alerted him that he was late for work but he remembered his decision from yesterday so he called in sick. If he had gone to work he would probably have ran into Solo. Duo had started to work in the same place as Solo since Solo thought it was a good idea for them to have the same schedule, even though they might not always work together at the base. He also had like a million things to do around the apartment but he didn't feel like doing them. Instead, he took a walk around the block.

Duo's neighbourhood was not a fancy one with parks and trees everywhere. No, as he walked he passed rundown buildings, patched roads that were still full of holes and a population that was as rundown and patched as their surroundings. Yesterday's rain had washed away some of the debris that usually littered the streets but there had been too much of it from the start to really make a difference.

He thought of Solo and their time together. He remembered their first date, their first kiss and their first time together. He also remembered their last date, over three months ago. Sure they had been spending a lot of time together but it had been spent as friends or work associates, not as a couple.

Inevitably, his thoughts turned to the dream and the strange man. Duo felt as if he should know the man but he waved it away as a part of an already odd dream. In dreams, you always knew the people in them even if you couldn't see them. It would have been nice if what he'd said had been true though. Not the master part but the part where he said he'd return when Duo called even if he would only return as a dream. Duo didn't feel like being alone but Solo wasn't an option and if he called any of his friends they'd ask where Solo was and he didn't want to explain.

Duo resigned to his fate. Whatever this dream-person had said, he was alone again and he'd stay that way until he died. Everyone that got close to him either died or ended up hurting him, killing a piece of him whichever of the two it was.

Duo had always had to rely solely on his own skills and knowledge, he had never been dependant, and he figured being an orphan and spending the greater part of one's childhood on the streets could do that to a person.

Duo entered his apartment, went to the kitchen, realized that something in the living room had been off, carefully backed out from the kitchen again and saw Heero step out of the shadows, literally. None of the usual being-there-but-not-showing-before-exiting-the-shadows, no this was a shadows-melting-together-to-form-a-solid-figure kind of stepping out of the shadows.

"How did you get in?" Duo asked him with fear tainting his voice.

"You left the window open, master. You called so I came, as promised." Heero said, once again performing half a bow as if trying to remember how to act around a superior. Duo got even more scared as Heero moved closer and closer to him. "I'm sorry it took such a long time to answer your summoning. I'll make it up to you by coming before you call next time. Until then master." Heero said before turning and jumping out the window. Once again, there was a mysterious lack of smashed Heero on the ground.

Duo prepared a microwave dinner as the significance of Heero's visit hit him with the gentleness of a well placed sledgehammer. If Heero was here now, that meant he had been here last night too and the strange dream wasn't a dream at all. Duo didn't know what to think. He had a mystery guy popping in whenever he felt Duo call. But how did he do to call Heero?

ooooo

Heero was in the reading room with a black haired, black-eyed man who was sitting cross-legged on the floor slowly sharpening the sword that lay across this lap.

"Are Trowa and Quatre still sleeping?" The man didn't look up from what he was doing but it didn't matter much since Heero wasn't watching him, opting instead to glare at the non-offending fire.

"According to the Manguanacs they are."

"It's unusual for Trowa to sleep in but who can blame him?" Wufei shrugged his shoulders.

"It was a long time coming."

"Hn." Heero supplied.

"It was so obvious, how they both could miss it is unexplainable but on the other hand, I'll never understand those two."

"I hope you're not talking about us Wufei." Quatre said as he and Trowa entered the room. Wufei looked sharply at him.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Quatre scowled at the irate Chinese man. Trowa watched the exchange quietly.

"No bickering, children. Quatre be nice to Wufei, he's just returned from his visit at Treize's, you know how he gets." Heero casually ducked the newly sharpened sword. "Settle down, we've got plans to make." Heero said with as cold an expression he got. Quatre, looking properly chasted sat down in a coach facing Heero and Trowa sat down on the coach's armrest, unwilling to give up the comfort of having Quatre close now when he had it, at last. Heero began to talk about the plan, a plan like many others the group had executed in the past.

"Quatre you're going to have to climb trough the air vent to get here," Heero pointed at a map. "and turn the alarm off when you get to the main control room. Trowa and Wufei, you'll go in as soon as Quatre gives the all clear. Wufei I'll take care of any guards you might run into. Trowa you'll take as many of the warheads as you can. Those you can't take you'll destroy. Understood? And leave the fighting to Wufei this time. I know that you want to too but I need you to handle the warheads. You are the only one of us that has encountered this type before. Trust Wufei to do his part of the job." Trowa looked at the floor and nodded but there was a gleam in his eyes that, thankfully, only Quatre saw. Wufei looked at him imploringly.

"What are you going to do?" Heero's expression hadn't changed during the briefing and didn't change now either.

"I'll take out the main security centre."

"Alone?"

"Yes."

"Why not, it's not like you haven't done anything like that before." Wufei said and gave in. After all it was a pretty standard plan, only slightly changed to fit the building's layout and what they were going after.

ooooo

Duo heard his phone call and he slowly and cautiously closed in it. He checked the number on the display; it was an emergency number from work. Strange he thought but in the end, he decided to answer after all.

"Mr. Maxwell, they have broken into the weapon's hangar. We don't…" The call was violently interrupted. Duo felt like taking his guns and rushing to the base but he knew that that was a certain way to get himself dead, in the unstable frame of mind he did just that.

Duo walked carefully up to the building but there was no sign of the catastrophe he'd expected to find there was inkling that anything was amiss on the outside. If the call hadn't come from that particular number he would have thought the call a prank. When Duo walked trough the doors he quickly changed opinion, there was something seriously wrong here. One of the smaller side doors had been blown into the wall on the opposite side. An unlucky solider had been trapped behind the door and there wasn't much left of him except for the wet spot on the wall. It got worse from there, dead and dying soldiers were scattered all over the place, some intact but most wasn't. Duo had feared going to work earlier because he might encounter Solo and, true to form, Duo found him. Mercifully it looked like he was one of the few who'd gotten a quick death. There was a knife sprouting from his left eye socket

Duo stalked around the base, trying to get a clue to who had done this and why. The only thing he found was that all guards were dead but some people who had hid had survived. He couldn't decide whether this was a good thing or not. As he turned a corner Duo saw a smallish shadow dart into a doorway just a short way down the corridor, he readied his gun and fired as he entered the closet sized office, his own office he realized with a slight disconcerting feeling. He saw the man and fired. To his utter surprise the bullet didn't hit despite the fact that he'd aimed right at the man.

When Quatre heard the shot it was almost to late but he got a hand up and stopped the offending projectile. He curiously watched the first man ever to be able to sneak up on him. Duo on the other hand had started to freak out. People does not stop bullets in the air, much in the same way that people don't just leap out the tenth storey window and doesn't get mashed. Quatre took off to find the others leaving a dazed Duo behind him. Quatre knew he ought to have killed the man but unnecessary violence wasn't his thing.

After some time Duo shook himself out his stupor and took up the hunt. The unexplainable bullet-halting-in-midair had been conveniently forgotten. It's not as strange as it looks. The human mind has a habit of erasing things that disturbs it. A 'if I can't see it, it isn't there' kind of policy. Duo silently made his way deeper into the base, towards the main security room.

He heard voices and slowed down even more, it sounded like someone was reporting to someone else, it had a clipped and bored sort of ring to it but he was too far away to hear what was said. Duo slowly reloaded his gun and slowly, very slowly, made his way to the open door. Inside there was four black dressed men talking to each other. Duo thought that he recognized the small form of his earlier 'acquaintance' but he wasn't sure. Never lowering his gun or his awareness. A sudden movement placed him at the side of the door gun trained on the nearest person, who ended up being Heero.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?!" Duo demanded as if the last 24 hours hadn't been taxing enough. Now his mysterious guy showed up in a break-in, a bloody but well done break-in, at the base where he worked. Who'd given happy-pills to whatever being it was that ruled the universe.

"I didn't think I would have to shot you for something." Duo said to Heero, who simply took a steep forward.

"I'll shoot if you get any closer." Duo warned.

"Fire at will, master." Heero said, mimicking the military phrase. "It won't accomplish anything since we won't get hurt but may fire." Quatre glared at Heero.

"Speak for yourself Mr. Indestructible. If he shoots me, I'll get hurt. I was lucky to stop the bullet last time." Trowa looked irked at this and cast a sideways glare at Heero.

"Would someone, please, tell me what the hell is going on!" Duo said somewhere between a question and a command.

"Why don't we finish this and go and have this conversation somewhere less… " Heero looked pointedly around at the corpses and various unsorted body parts. He turned towards Quatre who huffed something about beings too lazy to user their own legs before raising both hands. When he let them down again they'd left the bloody mess that had been Duo's workplace far behind them. They were now standing in a big room that was totally foreign to Duo but the others seemed to perfectly at ease.

"Okay, lets talk this trough as rational people, one, where are we? Two, Why are we here? Three, how the fuck did we get there? Or will you go for option four, you don't want to know and you'd better feint right away?" Hysteria was closing in on Duo. He started to scratch his forehead with his gun, something that made the others a bit nervous since the safety was off and Duo still had the muzzle pointed in their general direction. Quatre silently prayed that none of the Manguanacs would come in, that might have been the last straw for Duo.

"A place we call home, so that we can talk, thanks to Quatre." Wufei quickly ticked the three things of at his fingers. "Heero, why did we bring him here and why does he know your name?" Quatre and Trowa looked at Wufei suspiciously.

"Oh right, you were at Treize's when it happened."

"When what happened?" Duo stood looking confused while he tried to remember in what order he'd asked his questions and then piece them together with the right answer.

"Heero left yesterday, apparently to meet with, um, this person." Duo had finally gotten all the pieces in the right order and he turned to Heero again.

"Back up a bit, what, exactly, are you?"

"Hn, Trowa here, is a werecat, Quatre is a wizard and Wufei is a Demon." Heero pointed at the persons he named.

"Well, that explains everything. I've lost it and so has the rest of the world. Please do not disturb me before I've fastened the screws again. Wait, you didn't tell me what you are."

"I thought you knew master, I'm Heero."

"Um, Quatre was it? Uh, could you do the wavy-hand tricks and take me home, about now?" Heero nodded his head yes but not before relieving Duo of his gun. Quatre did the wavy- hands thing and Duo was gone.

"What on earth, and some other places, makes you think that you can trust a human with that kind of information?"

"Hn." Heero said and left, for dawn was approaching.

Duo opened his eyes relaxed when he saw his own perfectly normal and perfectly ordinary bedroom ceiling. He strongly wished that he could forget what had happened but he couldn't, there had been a few to many strange things to black out without leaving big empty holes in his memory. He did accept that some of the things had to have happened, where was his gun otherwise? But he didn't want to explore how much more there was out there that he didn't have a clue about. Wereanimals, demons and wizards my ass, lucky that Heero seems normal, except that he might be able to fly. Flying can be excused during the circumstances.

Duo wondered if any normal humans knew about this other world, suddenly some things the stranger newspapers had written sounded less insane and more like it could have happened.

He saw the sun rise and he thought of calling in sick again when he remembered the state the base had been in and decided that it wouldn't matter and that it'd probably only be a waste of time.

-----

AN: I forgot to put up a disclaimer in the first chapter (bad me!) How embarrassing.

I hope you like it (please review and tell hint hint )

I've got about 15 000 words of this story written as of today but I have serious trouble with my internet connection and will therefore not be able to update as often as I might wish. I'll try to make it two times a week at least.


	3. 3

Quatre woke when he felt a long fingered hand settle over his mouth. His eyes flew open to meet Trowa's green ones.

"I couldn't sleep again, is it okay if I stay here?" Trowa said asked while removing his hand.

"Of course you may stay here. Um, just one thing, why are we whispering?"

"So that we won't disturb the Manguanacs."

"That is a very good reason, but I know a better way." A blue light, the same colour as Quatre's eyes, shone from the walls as Quatre spelled them soundproof.

"There, that's better don't you think?"

"Much." Trowa said before reaching down to kiss Quatre. When they broke away from the kiss Trowa settled between the sheets and Quatre started to run his hand trough the taller man's hair. To Quatre's outmost delight Trowa started to purr.

"I didn't know you purred in this form to." He remarked smiling.

"I do not purr," Trowa defended himself. "in either form."

"Whatever you say, Trowa." The pair eventually settled and fell into a restful sleep.

Quatre was again awoken by Trowa but this time his hand didn't rest on his mouth, no, this time Trowa's hand had settled on Quatre's chest and with one finger he traced lazy circles around one of the blond's nipples. However when Quatre looked at Trowa's face the werecat appeared to be sleeping. Quatre was thorn between waking him and just staying still enjoying the sensation. Trowa hadn't been as asleep as he appeared because he was suddenly above Quatre doing the same thing with his tongue, his fingers had been doing earlier. The sudden heat and wetness made Quatre gasp and arch into Trowa's touch. He also raised his hands to rest against Trowa's shoulders, lost in the new sensations Quatre didn't really know what to do with his body.

Trowa moved upwards and settled half on and half by Quatre. He looked his long time friend and soon to be lover deep in the eyes and kissed him deeply before leaving Quatre's mouth in favour for nibbling his ear. Quatre held his breath just letting it all happen to him afraid that if he did a sudden move everything would be lost. Trowa noticed his tenseness and stroked his arms and torso slowly to make him relax. It worked and Quatre regained the ability to breathe and he let go of the slightly abused sheet.

Trowa moved so that he was once again on top of the blonde, who smiled when getting kissed on the lips before Trowa moved down to Quatre's throat. Quatre moved his head exposing his neck giving Trowa better access. Trowa continued to kiss down Quatre's throat to finally reach his nipples once again. When Quatre once again started to abuse his sheets, Trowa smiled and whispered: "just relax" in Quatre's ear and following the words up with a row of tiny butterfly-kisses along the edge of the ear.

As Quatre reached completion he lost control of his magic, which surged trough the house waking Heero long enough to get a 'kuso' out of him and making Wufei revert to his second form, something that made him curse sexually overactive wizards in his native language.  
  
ooooo

About a month had passed since Heero had first disappeared and nothing of greater importance had happened since Quatre had sent Duo home, in either reality. Quatre was sleeping alone; Trowa had left earlier to hunt something or other down. The heavy blanket of security that usually guarded his dreams was suddenly torn to pieces by an angry-red consciousness. Quatre could feel the foreign mind trying to invade his own. Pressing against walls that had stood untended for a long time. Quatre felt his walls start to crumble under the insistent onslaught. The other mind found a crack in Quatre's defence and poured in. There was something amiss, though. Instead for the expected mind the Other only found an emptiness. Quatre had long ago booby-trapped his own mind. In case someone broke in his mind would shut down and the perpetrator wouldn't be able to find anything. It was a risky thing to since there were no guarantees that he'd ever get his mind back but it was preferable to giving away his secrets to those strong enough to break trough his mind-walls. The Other left but with the intent to return if Quatre managed to restart his mind again.

Neither Heero nor Wufei missed the small blond until Trowa returned from what looked like a successful hunting trip.

"If you are here, where is Quatre?" Wufei asked the werecat, who suddenly became very concerned.

"I'll go check on him." Both Heero and Wufei knew that it would have been useless to volunteer.

Trowa found Quatre in bed, his eyes open but he wasn't responding to any kind of stimuli. Trowa immediately settled beside Quatre and stroked his hair and cheek softly. Whispering to him all the things he'd wanted to tell the other man but hadn't dared to. Now it could be too late. Ten minuets later Wufei came trough the door, trough as in the door was closed but that doesn't mean much to a demon who can walk trough walls. Wufei mostly used the doors, it was more polite… whether open or not. What he arrived to was not what he'd been waiting though.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He's not here!"

"Of course he's here, you are holding him!"

"No, I meant that his body is here but he, himself isn't."

"Oh! I'd better tell Heero." The last word had been muffled by the floor which the demon had been sinking trough. Quatre and Trowa's room was one floor up, from the main room speaking. He landed slightly harder than expected since he'd been to preoccupied with what was going on with Quatre. He ran into the main room searching for Heero.

"You're running Wufei, something is wrong."

"Quatre, he isn't here. Or rather he is, while he isn't." Heero looked at the flustered demon. Wufei never was this incoherent. Not even after he'd spent a whole week with Treize. It came close but not quite.

"What you are saying is that Quatre's body is upstairs but he isn't there mentally."

"Yes, how did you know?"

"I helped him set up that trap many years ago. I hoped that he wouldn't have to use it but that is clearly not the case. I need to get going, and you ought to too, a letter for you just arrived." Heero didn't have to mention whom from. Heero almost wished he could follow the young demon to see what would happen when he met Treize in this condition.

ooooo

Doing some of the million and one things that always needs to be done in every home, Duo was dancing around to some loud music. He hadn't returned to the base, claming that it was to stressful to do so. He'd been offered a job on a base in Louisiana but he didn't want to move. Instead, he got some money and a couple of nice words on his résumé. He could have gotten a new job fairly easy but he wanted to wait for a bit, taking to chance to get a long vacation before returning to work. He danced trough the living room folding the blanket when he felt something. He turned quickly and there, right in front of the window, stood Heero. Duo's heart rate went trough the roof. 

"Ack! Can't you make some kind of sound instead of just appearing like that?!"

"I beg your pardon master. I'll try to be noisier from now on." Duo felt his heart slow down some but he was still frightened, afraid of Heero, and what Heero might do. His insides were cheering, though. By promising that he'd be nosier in the future, Heero as good as promised that he'd return.

"Thank you." Duo said, in lack of anything intelligent. He disposed of the blanket he was still holding in his hands before carefully seating himself on the coach. Duo thought that maybe, maybe, by making himself less of a threat he'd get out of this alive. There were something different about Heero today and he hadn't become nicer. There were a certain edge to his words and something was off about his eyes. "So, um, how is things?"

"Quatre's mind has closed down, Trowa is guarding what little there is left of him and he isn't likely to move anytime soon. Wufei just left to go to his lord."

"That was… honest. Is there anything I can do?"

"If I may ask, why would you want to?"

"Because…" Duo didn't really know what to say, he wasn't even sure on why he wanted to help Heero.

"'Because'? Well as good a reason as any I guess." Heero looked so serious while saying this that Duo sniggered. When Heero failed to react, Duo started to laugh. To Heero it seemed as if there had been something missing his whole life and he'd just found it again. He promised himself that he'd make Duo laugh more often.

"Well, is there?"

"Except keeping me company?"

"You want that?" Duo's head shot up waiting for the answer.

"Yes." Duo was pleased but he was still a little scared of Heero. "I have to go now; I need to get something to eat before going back to the house. Until next time." He reached out and stroked one of Duo's bangs from his face so carefully that Duo almost doubted that it'd happened. One second he was standing there in front of Duo and the next he was gone. The only proof of his visit an open window and Duo's memory of a very soft hand against his cheek.

ooooo

This time Wufei wasn't showed to Treize's usual office, instead he was led to a small and partially secluded part of the extensive garden. Treize was nowhere in sight and after half and hour Wufei got tired of standing and seated himself on the grass in front of one of the rosebushes. He studied the roses but was careful not to touch them, lest he'd hurt the plant in any way.

"I didn't know you also liked roses." Wufei whirled around, halfway up before kneeling down. He'd made a mistake, he hadn't heard Treize enter. He didn't fear the consequences, fear is only for weak people, but he didn't look forward to them either.

"You may rise." His tone clipped but not out of anger. They'd gone trough the steps of this ritual many times before and it had become more than just a greeting. There was no sign of Une this time either, something had probably happened to her, not that Wufei cared overmuch if it had.

"Wufei, why is it I felt you change into your second form last month, when I know that you have to clear any and all changes with me first? And why haven't you reported the event even though I've given you plenty of time to do so?" So it was 'Wufei' instead of 'dragon', a bad sign.

"A wizard who momentarily lost his hold over his magic initiated the change, my lord. I was hit so hard I thought that you must have felt the backslash. When I didn't receive a summons I became confident that this was case. I realize now that I have erred."

"We've talked about this before; you don't act on what you think. You act from facts. By the way, what were you doing so close to a wizard who lost control?"

"I was trying to sleep, my lord."

"I haven't known you as one to sleep close to a battle."

"Battle?" Wufei was really confused, what battle?

"Why else would a wizard lose control?" Wufei stared at the ground and muttered something

while cursing sex-crazed wizards and weres once again. All this was their fault.

"Come again."

"I said that it was his first time with his mate, my lord." Treize was momentarily puzzled before looking at Wufei again.

"I'm glad we sorted this out Wufei, now there is only the little matter of a fitting punishment. Do you have any suggestions?" It was a game between the two of them. Rather like a cat who's playing with the injured prey before going in for the kill.

"I could do lines."

"Lines, Wufei?"

"Why not whip me like you use to and get it over with?"

"Impatient. No, I've got something more fitting to the crime in mind. Change into your second form." Wufei knew it was useless to resist, and by doing so he would only make his punishment worse, so he changed into what was known as his second form. He became taller, scaly wings sprouted from his back. He also had a tail that was about three feet long ending in a point. He stood on the ball of his feet to free the 4-inch claws that came from what had been his heel but now worked as a hock. His hair had changed into thin flat scales and his ears had become pointy. The pupils in his gold eyes were slitted like those of a reptile.

Treize had also changed into his second form, even though Wufei had grown Treize still towered over the younger demon. Unlike most other demons Treize's second form had nothing in common with his true-form. His face had broadened and elongated, creating a short but powerful snout. His chest and arms had filled out, his hands now adorned with claws. He stepped up to Wufei and Treize put his palms on the smaller demon's chest, claws resting just beneath the collarbones. Treize flexed his hands, sinking his claws into the unresisting flesh and pulled down. Something between a howl and a screech was heard from Wufei when his lord's poison started to work the long deep wounds but he didn't move away or try to stop Treize.

"I'm proud of you dragon." Treize whispered before raising his voice. "You may go now."

Trembling with effort, and despising himself for it, Wufei changed back to his first-form and slowly made his way to the gates. Once there he flickered out of sight only to reappear near the house where he collapsed against the wooden doors, almost falling on the poor Manguanac who opened to see what the noise was all about.

ooooo

When Heero awoke after sundown there was a very nervous Manguanac looking down on him. This was something he didn't appreciate but he didn't do anything worse than a glare, out of respect for Quatre.

"Master Heero, when master Wufei returned earlier he was badly injured." Heero immediately got worried. He knew that Treize sometimes punished Wufei for whatever infractions the latter had committed but he hardly ever showed any signs of it. He knew that Wufei was proud and that it really had to be bad if the young demon showed any signs of weakness at all.

"Whipped?" The poor Manguanac stared at Heero before answering.

"Um, no, it looks as if he's been clawed; there are marks all down his front." Heero was surprised; even he hadn't had to live that down.

"Take me to him."

The Manguanac had been right; Heero almost flinched when he saw the deep wounds.

"Wufei?" The only response was a halfhearted glare. "How bad is it?"

"They are poisoned but I'll heal, I always do."

"Why?" Wufei had early on understood that Heero knew about his punishments and that the other man also knew of punishments. It was less hard to talk to someone who knew the basics and only asked the important questions without a lot of meaningless chatter in-between. Heero also knew why Wufei couldn't leave Treize.

"Quatre's magic going haywire forced a change."

"And you aren't allowed to change." A nod. "Heal well friend." He turned to leave but was halted by Wufei's voice.

"Heero?"

"Hn?"

"Do me a favour." Wufei never asked for anything if he could avoid it. "Kill some of the Manguanacs on the way out."

"I can't. It would be very impolite to kill Quatre's servants without giving him a chance to do so first."

Some time later another unlucky servant almost feared for his life when he had to wake Wufei up. The demon needed all the sleep he could get to heal but he needed to know what'd happen even more.

"Master Wufei?"

"If you value your health you leave now… quietly." The Manguanac tried to remain where he was while acting as he was leaving, this very manoeuvre can be seen at rodents eating something they shouldn't.

"Um, master Wufei, we found Heero on the floor, unconscious." Wufei sat up, something which he shouldn't have done he realized when the pain shot trough him. He didn't let the pain stop him though.

"When did he last feed?"

"Just yesterday. We don't know what to do."

"Are there any signs of a fight?"

"No, he's lying on the floor and appears to be unconscious if it wasn't for the open eyes."

"Hm, it sounds a lot like what happened to Quatre. I don't know if there is anything we can do for him, except maybe to get… that boy he's been meeting with. But that's going to be troublesome since no one except Heero knows where to find him, we don't even know the boy's name, and even if we did find him, how to get him here? I can only jump alone and Quatre is dead to the world as it is."

"We don't know how to find him but Quatre has arranged emergency spells that can be carried along. They only activate when you break the crystal the spell is encased in."

"I'll have to go then, but not until tomorrow evening. I need sleep and some food." At the very last moment he remembered himself and shouted after the retreating back. "Real food! None of that broth you seem bent on serving me!"

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AN: My computer showed that both my previous chapters were uploaded but that was obviously not the case. Don't really know why the first one disappeared when I uploaded the second one. I hope it goes better this time.

Please Review


	4. Chapter 4

The knock on the door almost sent Duo to the roof. He'd been in the bathroom combing out his hair and wasn't expecting someone. According to Murphy's law there will always be someone at the door or at the phone when you decide to wash your hair but this time the bell had waited until after the shower at least. He first thought that it might be Heero since no one else had come to visit since that fateful day a month ago when Heero and the demon and the wizard and the werecat had trashed the office he'd been working in. It now seemed as if all the friends he'd had when Solo and he was still together were, in fact, Solo's friends because none of them had come visiting, or even called. Not even a letter or an e-mail had Duo received.

There was no Heero standing outside the door. Instead there was a slightly pale man of Chinese decent. It's always a feat to see people with coloured skin go pale, it does look strange.

"Do I know you?" Duo asked because he was sure he'd seen the man somewhere before. The severe ponytail, though Duo was sure that the man would never call the way he'd bound his hair a ponytail, and the loose pants seemed somehow familiar.

"I'm a friend of Heero's." He said. "Chang Wufei."

"Oh, I'm Duo Maxwell. We must've met in that strange room." Duo said, remembering that his was the supposed demon. Wufei, on the other hand, was contended to finally get to know the name of Heero's mysterious, so called master.

"What? Yes we did."

"Why are you here?"

"There was an accident and Heero was involved. We wondered if you wanted to meet him. It might help him come back to us faster." They'd been standing in the doorway during the whole conversation but Wufei suddenly found himself being pushed backwards.

"Heero's been hurt? What are you waiting for?" Duo had grabbed his coat and was out the door, that locked almost before being shut, in oh point seven seconds.

"Wait. You can't go there like that, you need this." Wufei handled him Duo a rather shiny piece of stone that looked related to diamonds but it was too large to be one. Duo could only just encase all of it in his hand.

"Okay, Wu-man this stone is very nice and all that but I don't think that a piece of jewellery is going to get me to Heero any faster."

"Maxwell!"

"Um, yes?"

"Never mind." Wufei sighed, "The crystal contains a transportation spell, break it and you will get to the house." Wufei wasn't in any condition to argue about the nick-name he'd just been given, he could feel what little there was left of his energy draining away quickly.

"Cool." Duo said and smashed the crystal against the wall. When he removed his hand, he was definitely not in his apartment any longer. A breathless 'Holy shit' escaped his lips.

He was standing outside two large wooden doors and, even more noticeable was the rather angry looking man pointing a gun at him.

"Take it easy man." Duo pleaded with his hands open trying to soothe the gun wielding man. The man in question did not want to take it easy, though. Someone had hurt master Quatre and they didn't know who, or in all honesty, even what. He wanted to take out his frustrations on someone and like magic this boy had appeared. Why waste a good opportunity?

"Maxwell!" Wufei had been taken by surprise when Duo had disappeared so quickly. He'd jumped as soon as he'd gotten his wits back but he realised that he was almost too late despite that. He silently vowed that he was never going to relax near the braided boy, ever again. It might prove unhealthy.

"Um, Wuffie, are you sure we are in the right place? There is a guy here with a very loaded gun which he's pointing at me."

"My name is Wufei!" The Chinese man said with an exasperated sigh. He didn't have time nor energy to handle both long haired menaces and jumpy Manguanacs. He turned towards the Manguanac. "It's all right Abdul, he's with me." Though Wufei couldn't understand the disappointed look on Abdul's face while the man lowered his gun.

Wufei led Duo trough the dark, winding corridors of the house. There were a lot of candle holders around, but not all of them held candles, on top of that, only one candle in five seemed to have been lit. There was no other source of light, no windows, as far as Duo could see and no electricity. Duo wondered about that last one, in this day and age, who didn't use electricity?

Most of corridors had carpets in dark red, blue or green covering the wooden floor. At regular intervals paintings or other pieces of art broke up the monotony of the walls. The walls were covered by panelling, in the same kind of wood as the floor, to about hip-height where it gave away to a mustard-yellow wallpaper.

The demon had first thought of leaving Duo to a Manguanac but Wufei had soon changed his mind when he remembered Abdul's reaction to the boy. Wufei's own room was in this direction after all.

"Wuffie you are bleeding, a lot." Duo sounded, and was concerned. He'd never seen anyone loose this much blood and still be standing. Hell, before last month he hadn't seen anyone get anything worse than a paper cut. Much less bleeding through his shirt in the way Wufei was currently doing. Whatever had happened it couldn't have been comfortable. He hadn't seen Wufei getting hurt which meant that it must have happened before he came to get him.

"My name is Wufei. And I'm aware of my current condition, yes."

"You really ought to let someone look at it. I'm pretty sure humans aren't supposed to stand up after loosing that much blood."

"Lucky me I'm not human then, and let me remind you that me bleeding or not is none of your business." They continued in silence until they reached a pair of richly decorated doors. They were carved to a likeness of a forest so real Duo swore that he'd seen a deer walk trough the trees and peer at him before it reached the doorframe and got out of sight.

"This is Heero's room." Was all Wufei said as before leaving the bewildered Duo behind while he continued to his own quarters.

Duo stood still, his brain still didn't want to believe in this, the man, the trip, the house and now these doors. He only needed to open them to get to Heero, but did he want to? They hadn't really met a lot, at total of two times and a short note, as a matter of fact and yet… and yet. Heero was one of life's great mysteries, why had he even agreed to come with Wufei today? Maybe it was Heero's unsettling use of the honorific 'master, or the total lack of flat Heero when he left windows on the twentieth floor, or was there something else? And there was that nagging feeling in the back of his mind that told Duo that there was something familiar about Heero. Something Duo ought to know. When his inner monologue had gone on long enough Duo threw caution to the winds and entered the room.  
It looked like a home office of sorts. There was a big desk and filled bookcases but there were also two stuffed chairs and a small table in front of fireplace in which a fire was burning happily. Now Duo was faced with a choice, there was one door straight ahead and two doors to the left. Which one to choose? He went for the one straight ahead, if nothing else it ought to be easier to find his way out of there if something happened.

Luck had been on his side, the room he entered was Heero's bedroom. There were no windows here, like the office room and the hallways. How could they live like this and not see daylight at all? The large four-poster bed dominated the whole room. Heero lay still as death on the pristine white sheets in the middle of the bed. Duo rushed forward halting only a couple of steps from the edge. Heero had seemed to be a very private person; Duo couldn't help but to feel that he was intruding. When Heero didn't move or otherwise react to Duo's presence he inched closer.

Duo had to climb into the bed to get close enough to the still form to see that his eyes were open but non-responding. He looked deep into those blue eyes, and deeper yet.

He found himself standing in a field of short cropped grass. There was nothing except the never-ending field and a deep blue sky that looked real but felt faked. There were no trees or bushes, no water, not even a flower. Duo could have sworn that each individual straw of grass grew at the exact same distance from the other ones. He looked around once more but still couldn't figure out where he was. Had he touched something like that captured spell that had brought him to the house or was there another explanation to this strange place?

"Master?"

"Wha… Heero?" And there stood Heero, where there had recently been only empty field. "Where are we?"

"Inside my mind. Though I'm not really sure how you got here."

"Wuffie came and got me, he had some cool transportation-jewel-thingy and we came here and some guy pointed a gun at me until Wu-man told him not to and then he showed me to your room despite his injuries he bled a lot and it didn't even look as if he noticed." The words poured from Duo's mouth. Heero broke the speech down to manageable pieces adding punctuation where needed.

"I'm sorry." Duo ended his impromptu speech with.

"For what?"

"Entering your room without permission but Wu-man said that you needed help so I figured that it might be excused. I just wanted you to know that I wouldn't have done it if you had been able to say no."

"What happened?"

"I don't know and Wufei didn't say. You're just lying still on your bed looking at nothing." Heero looked slightly shocked.

"You shouldn't be able to talk to me like this. Something, someone, attacked me and my mind must have shut down."

"Well I'm here now. Can I help you jumpstart your mind again?"

"It's already begun. You managed to get my sense of self together and it has already begun working on piecing the scattered remains together again."

"Um, this might sound like a stupid question but I'm going to ask anyways. How do I get out of here? I mean it's all right for you to be here, it's your mind, but I'd like to get back into mine."

"I'll help you, soon. I just have to be strong enough." And soon Heero did. He used force to expel everything that wasn't him from his mind and it caused Duo to slam back into his own body so fast it recoiled and he ended up sprawled on the floor. But there was also something else that was also expelled, something that had been stuck to Heero's mind for so long and so deep that he hadn't noticed it before. Truth to be told, he didn't notice it disappearing either but another man did, and he wasn't happy about it.

"Duo?" Heero's voice was weak but it carried far enough.

"Yeah." For a moment Heero thought he was hearing things, and then Duo's head popped up over the edge of the bed. His hair was ruffled and bangs stood out ever which way but he was unharmed.

"Thank you." Heero wasn't going to lie around all night now when he was awake again. Thanks to Duo he'd gotten an idea of how to get Quatre to snap out of it and he needed to go and see Wufei. The demon shouldn't have been out in the human world looking for Duo in the shape he was in now.

"Um, Heero?" Said person watched as Duo slowly backed away from the bed.

"What?"

"Your eyes… they are red… and glowing. But you already knew that didn't you?" The last came out in a bit of a rush. Heero thought some very nasty words. Of course the expulsion had cost a lot of energy; of course he had to replace it. But did his body really have to betray him like this?

"What are you Heero?" Heero sighed, here it comes, and the next thing he'd see was Duo running for the door.

"I'm a vampire." To his utter surprise Duo stopped backing and instead he leaned forward.

"The bloodsucking kind or the ones who fly into innocent virgins's windows but never gets a chance to do anything?"

"I need blood, human blood, to stay… well… alive. I don't do the virgin thing, though." Heero replied honestly, it didn't even cross his mind not to.

"Do you have fangs?"

"Yes."

"Cool." Heero suddenly had the feeling that he and Duo weren't participating in the same conversation. Duo's responses weren't what he'd expected. "So the glowing eyes are a part of being vampire?"

"Unfortunately."

"You're not going to snack on me, are you?"

"No I won't, master. And for the record: I don't snack on anyone."

"Well, see you later then." Heero looked surprised, he still hadn't gotten the script to this dialogue and things we're going a bit too fast for him.

"Are you leaving?"

"Not me, you are. You need to, um, eat something."

"I'll send a Manguanac in with something for you. Feel free to stay." With those words he did leave. Trough the door, Duo decided that it must have been a fluke, Heero always jumped out of windows when he left.

Duo energetically nosed trough all of Heero's rooms. He remembered that he'd said that he hadn't wanted to walk around in Heero's room without permission but he'd gotten it, right? Duo had just decided to see if the doors had as pretty carvings on the inside as on the outside when a giant of a man opened one of them. It was hard to tell who got most shocked. Duo, on one hand, hadn't expected such a large man (honestly he hadn't really known what to expect. Manguanac isn't a good description, really) and he definitely hadn't expect him to open the door when he stood in front of them himself. Rashid, on the other hand, had just been told to leave off food in Heero's room. Of course the vampire had failed to mention anything about anyone being in there and, courtesy of living with four different beings that didn't exist in the eyes of most men, he wasn't really sure how to treat whatever this man was. Heero hadn't said anything about any special diet though so it had to be mostly human.

"I'm sorry I scared you, master…?" Duo looked up… and then even further up, the man was huge, and then he looked some more just because the man was big.

"I'm Duo Maxwell. And you are a Mag Nack? Ooo! Is that food?" Rashid nodded. "You're my new best friend." Duo declared while dancing around the Manguanac and the tray and whatever furniture happened to be in the vicinity.

"It's 'Manguanac' master Duo. And yes there is food but would you please stop eating from the tray until I can put it down." It's not nice to sic an excited Duo on an unprepared person. Rashid handled it pretty good all things considered.

Food eaten and nothing more to explore, Duo wasn't really up to leave the safety that was Heero's rooms, he crept into Heero's bed to sleep for a while. He'd been up almost all night, He didn't mean to sleep for long but he was still out when Heero returned. Heero took one hard long stare at the braided man and decided that he liked to find Duo in his bed. He also knew that there could never be anything between them. He couldn't let himself hope that it would be permitted, even if Duo, against all odds, would like him back. Heero lay on the bed, on top of the sheets. The bed was large enough not to scare Duo if he woke next to Heero.

Duo did wake up next to Heero. At first he just heard a slow even breathing close to his ear. With a second thought he realized that the breathing was a bit too slow. Heero, it had to be Heero. He liked it, he felt safe. A bit strange considering that the 'man' was a vampire and could quite possibly rip his throat out. He'd said that he wouldn't, though. Duo decided that it was him that was intruding on Heero's bed so it was only right that he got out. He didn't think that Heero would appreciate if he stayed in bed.

During his earlier explorations Duo had encountered a strangely lavish bathroom. Strange because the rest of the rooms were much more barren, the furniture old and well worn but there seemed to be nothing personal there. Not sterile but there wasn't a lot of personal stuff. He treated himself to a long hot bath. He thought he heard something so he threw one towel around his hair and one around his hips and went to investigate. It was Heero who'd been moving about. Duo suddenly felt stupid for realizing that the rooms' owner might, in fact, use them. He did also feel uneasy standing in front of Heero clad in only a pair of towels. Heero himself had discarded his shirt and presented a nice set of abs. They both decided that the other was wearing a little too little clothing to keep them comfortable and hurried back to where they'd come from.

Arif had been sent to Heero's rooms to leave some 'breakfast'. He couldn't understand why there seemed to be enough for two but he didn't care. He was too worried over Quatre. He was surprised to find rather a bouncy young man in Heero's office though.

"Are you also a Mack Nag?"

"A 'Manguanac'. Yes I am. And who might you be?" Heero choose this moment to enter the room.

"I'm Duo. Haven't you guys ever considered calling yourself something easier to pronounce?" Heero stood still for a moment before he decided not to bother to ask about what they were talking about. "You've brought more food!" Duo's face lit up with expectation. The food did keep up to the standards set the day before.

"I need to go and check up on Quatre and Wufei. Would you like to stay here or come with me?" Heero asked after Duo'd finished his meal. Heero himself didn't need much food having just fed the night before.

"I'd like to come with you. If that's all right with you." Duo added, blushing. Heero nodded and started down the corridor to Wufei's rooms.

Duo was impressed by Wufei's rooms. They had the same general size and placements as Heero's and at first glance they seemed as sterile. That was until you saw that the straight lines and clean cuts were there by personal choice. The demon simply preferred simplicity and he'd let the placement of the furniture speak what it, itself, did not.

"Heero?" Surprise was evident in his voice. The demon was pale and a thin coat of sweat covered what was visible of his skin. He lay in bed, for the time resigned to his lack of mobility and the fact that he had to show weakness.

"Hn."

"How?" Confusion melted away to be replaced with reluctant knowledge when he laid eyes on Duo who'd entered behind Heero. Heero saw Wufei flicker his eyes to Duo and nodded.

"Quatre?" Speaking hurt more than the stubborn dragon was willing to admit.

"Not yet but I've got an idea of how to do it."

"Good."

"Get better, soon."

"Yeah, and Wuffie, thanks for coming and fetching me."

"Maxwell, my name's Wufei!"

"Well, mine's Duo and I don't hear you calling me that." Duo said as he slunk out the door. Meanwhile Heero had a small smile playing on his lips as he followed Duo out the door. Someone out-speaking Wufei was a rare sight.


End file.
